Very interesting factoid in the Chronicle: Vinnie Chulk is very good at stranding inherited runners. In fact, he led the American League last season by stranding 33 of 37, or 89%, of his inherited runners. He has continued that high rate with the Giants, small samples true, but still 4 of 5 is still 80%. And he has been striking out people at an amazing rate as a Giant.
In addition, apparently that's something the bullpen has been having problems with, except for Brian Wilson, who has stranded 12 of 13 runners. Explains why he's still around with the crazy ERA and WHIP he has right now and lousy July stats.
Also, some good news on Scott Munter, also from the Chronicle: he appears to be back. Apparently he had elbow surgery right after last season ended and, for whatever reason, it was still affecting his velocity at the start of this season. That's partly why he was hit so badly. It was also noted that he is now up to throwing 92-93 MPH, which is his first this year, and that he's not far from where he should be. It was also reported that "Munter's sinker is beginning to work like it did last year." So he could be back soon on the MLB team.
According to the 'Giants Notes' yesturday, he's soon to be moving from AA up to AAA, which is always a good sign. Hopefully he returns to form and we could call him up in September.
ReplyDeleteAs for Chulk, I was watching last nights game and began to think: the scouting report on this guy may not be completely accurate. I remember reading when he was first acquired that he wouldn't strikeout many guys, and that he was more of a finesse pitcher that gets ground balls. Now, that definately began to give me flashes of Rueter, and I wasn't that excited. But watching Chulk the last couple of outings, he's been pretty good. Maybe its just a small sample size, but in any case... putting Accardo over the same sample size may have yielded different results...
I'm not happy Accardo's gone, but if Chulk can develop into a great middle reliever -- or even a setup guy -- then losing Accardo won't hurt so much. Not to mention Hillenbrand is hitting the ball consistently the last few games. Again, small sample, but a Giants fan can only hope.
The report that he was not a strikeout guy was because he didn't strike out that many last season in the majors. However, he did strike them out the season before and all through the minors, so it was a head scratcher why he got labeled a low strikeout guy based on his one bad season in 2005 when he also had an OK season in 2004. I can see bewaring that because maybe the league caught up with him, but at the same time relievers are always killed by small samples, so that could have been in play as well. In any case, I'm very happy we got him and Hillenbrand for Accardo, I'm willing to give up potential for the here and now.
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